The present invention relates to control of the arrangement of cells, and more particularly to a device for controlling cell arrangement, a process for preparing the device and a process for controlling the cell arrangement.
In recent years, with rapid progress of cell technology, technology in manufacturing an LSI and medical technology, attention is attracted on devices using cells, such as ultra-small biosensor, switching device, bioreactor, hybrid type artificial organs and neuro-computer, and development of them has been lively made.
It is difficult to arrange cells as desired with keeping the functions thereof, and the difficulty is one of obstacles to realization of devices using cells. The cell arrangement control technique for arranging the cells as desired, for instance, in a circuit network would become a key technology for realizing these devices.
It is attempted to control cell arrangement by patternwise applying fibronectin which is a cell adhesive protein, using an ink jet printer, and culturing cells on the protein pattern. However, this process is poor in resolution and uniformity and is not suitable for fine processing. Recently, control of direction of neuron cell synapse growth is attempted using an artificial uneven surface, but formation of desirable arrangement is not achieved.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a technique for easily controlling the arrangement of cells.
The above and other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the description hereinafter.